Quick post to share a few pictures from my recent trip to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The flight out was ~12.5 hours from Dulles to Doha, Qatar followed by a 1.5 hour flight to Riyadh. As we approached Riyadh, I spent a little time looking out the window and a saw a whole lot of dirt and sand...not much else. Riyadh is surrounded by the an-Nafud desert, which is the second largest desert on the Arabian peninsula.
The flight intentionally flew around Israel, Gaza and Lebanon and I'm guessing it's due to the ongoing war in Gaza and potential war with Lebanon.
Driving in from the airport, the driver pointed out a bunch craness off to our right and said Riyadh is hosting the 2034 World Cup (soccer) tournament. Construction had already begun on the new stadium for the main event.
Similar to how a bible can be found in most American hotels, a Qur'an and prayer rug can be found in most Middle Eastern hotel rooms.
In addition, there's always an arrow on the ceiling that points to Mecca, the most holy site in the Mulsim religion, which is also located in Saudi Arabia. Qibla means "direction" in Arabic.
It was HOT! In the mid-to-upper 110s every day. As silly as it sounds, at least it was a dry heat so there was no humidity. I went for a walk around the hotel one night at 9pm to call the family and it was still 101 degrees. The Saudis said it was hotter than normal and should only last for another week or two.
Waterfall in the courtyard of the embassy. We couldn't take many pictures at the embassy, which is standard security protocol.
Me and the technical team from the White House Communications Agency (WHCA).
A few pictures from around Riyadh's old town.
This is Deera Square, also known as Justice Square or Chop-Chop Square as this is where many public executions take place. Saudi Arabia is the only country with legal capital punishment through decapitation. The last public executions were in 2022 and 196 people were executed that year.
Ministry of Interior building.
Tabbouleh is a Lebanese salad that I'm sure you've tried with me at some point, it was my favorite side dish while in Lebanon. I found a Lebanese take out eatery in the mall and had a nice big bowl of tabbouleh. I was just as delicious as I remember.
This is Kingdom Tower and they have a Sky Bridge at the top of the building. The team and I headed over on our free day (Wednesday) and were planning to walk across the sky bridge. To our dismay, we found it was closed for 2 months due to renovation. Boooo.
Pics from the mall at the base of Kingdom Tower. Palm trees are fake.
With Kingdom Tower closed, we headed to Al Faisaliah Tower for a similar view of the city. Al Faisaliah (named after a previous King (Faisal)), was the tallest building in Saudi Arabia from 2000-2002 when it was first built before another taller building was constructed. It's the pyramid looking Tower in the below picture, it's further off in the distance but looks smaller in this picture.
A scale model of the building located in shops at the base of the building.
The viewing platform is known as The Globe.
A portion of the Saudi team supporting our visit. I am standing next to Faisal, who overseas IT for all of the Saudi "Royal Court". Royal Court is basically the core of their central government. What a wecloming and kind host, happy to talk about his culture and teach us about Saudi traditions and practices. We shared several cups of tea and coffee (a must in the Arab culture) a long with delicious Saudi dates and other tasty snacks. The Saudi in the middle is Salman, a nice younger guy who travels to Orlando every year for vacation. He's a bit of a bachelor so he rents a convertible Corvette every time he goes and was proud to show us pictures with him and many beautiful women in America. Nice guy and very welcoming as well.
The inside of the traditional Saudi restaurant we ate at called Aseeb, which means 'palm frond' in Arabic (hence the palm fronds on the wall art). Notice the large wooden door, it was massive. You can see the portion that opens, which is the bottom third of the door.
My favorite picture of the trip. This is one of the traditional entertaining rooms where everyone sits along the walls so your back is not to anyone (a no-no in Saudi culture). He told us all about the room and various aspects of it, it was interesting learning about the traditions and history.
This is 'laban', a yogurt-y buttermilk drink that is traditionally served. It was thick, cold and tasty.
Saudi team with milk and fatayer, which is basically a type of samosa. I didn't get any other pictures of dinner but we had various platters to share that included camel stew, lamb, sheep, goat and beef. It was all delicious! Too bad it was out last meal in country as we were literally heading out the airport about 2 hours after we finished the meal.
Bathroom at the airport. Luckily, I realized there was a separate side of the bathrooms with traditional toilets. Whew. I was close to havint to use this.
On the plane heading home sweet home. It's always exciting to travel and see new places and meet new people, but it's also always nice to come back home! So long Saudi, thanks for the memories.
